WE'RE NUMERO UNO IN SPACE AND THE GOVERNOR IS CLEANING UP!
Posted on 01/26/2004 2:19:00 AM PST by ambrose
NASA hits a `jackpot' on Mars with Opportunity Rover may sit near bedrock of planet of Mars
By MARK CARREAU
PASADENA, Calif. -- Scientists were stunned and amazed at what they witnessed Sunday in the first images of Mars transmitted to Earth by NASA's Opportunity rover.
The spacecraft bounded safely onto the planet's surface late Saturday, joining the twin spacecraft Spirit in an $820 million mission to determine whether a now-arid Mars was once wet and warm enough to harbor some form of life.
Parked halfway around the planet from its hobbled twin, Opportunity was beaming images back to Earth within hours of its arrival.
They revealed a rippled terrain covered by a fine, dark, gray-red dust. But most startling was an outcropping of broken, slablike stone 10 yards to 20 yards straight ahead of the six-wheel rover. The formation may be their first example of Martian bedrock, scientists believe.
The gently sloped surroundings suggest Opportunity is resting in a shallow crater.
"I'm flabbergasted. I'm astonished. I'm blown away," said Steve Squyres, the Cornell University astronomer who serves as the mission's principal scientific investigator. "Opportunity has touched down in a bizarre alien landscape. This is like nothing I've ever seen before."
Within a half-mile of Opportunity is a 500-foot-wide crater, possibly 120 feet deep. The walls could reveal much about the dominant geological processes, volcanic layering and possibly marine sediments that shaped the region.
"We have a scientific jackpot," said Larry Soderblom, a planetary geologist from the U.S. Geological Survey.
Once Opportunity climbs off its lander, within the next two weeks or so, the solar-powered robotic geologist will likely begin a journey to the outcrop for an extended study.
The bedrock would date back to the planet's formation. Meridiani Planum, the stretch of equatorial terrain in which Opportunity landed, is rich in gray hematite, a dark mineral that on Earth forms readily in pooled water, as well as through volcanic processes.
The cameras and other powerful analytical instruments that Opportunity carries were designed to unsort the origins of the rocks and soil by assessing their mineralogy and chemistry.
Opportunity descended onto Meridiani on Saturday shortly after 11 p.m. CST, concluding a seven-month journey from Earth.
Opportunity became only the fifth U.S. spacecraft in 14 attempts over the last three decades to safely reach the Martian surface. And on only one previous occasion have there been two spacecraft on the planet at the same time. NASA's stationary Viking I and Viking II probes accomplished the milestone in 1976.
The variation of the features on the landscapes of the previous landing sites helps explain the scientific enthusiasm for Opportunity's novel surroundings.
The Viking landers were surrounded by large boulders. NASA's 1997 Pathfinder settled into what appeared to have been an ancient watershed littered with smaller rocks. Spirit descended three weeks ago in what appears to be an ancient crater lake, Gusev, peppered with small rocks.
At each of the previous landing sites, the rocks rolled or washed in, or were churned and tossed up from deep below the surface by meteor bombardment. Those phenomena confuse the origins of the rocks and the significance of the processes that formed them.
"The beauty of bedrock is you know where it came from. This is the home neighborhood of the rocks. It's where they were born," said Squyres. "We will be able to say unambiguously what their point of origin was. It removes an enormous number of uncertainties."
Meanwhile Sunday, mission managers reported more progress in recovering Spirit. The trailblazing rover experienced an abrupt interruption in communications last week that threatened to jeopardize the mission.
"Spirit is still in serious condition, but we are moving toward guarded now," said NASA's Pete Theisinger, the Spirit and Opportunity project manager.
The difficulty that manifested itself in the flash memory portion of Spirit's computer appears to be software-related. Engineers also are looking at whether a solar discharge on Wednesday may have unleashed enough radiation to trigger the disruption.
Mission managers plan either a change in operating procedures to protect Spirit from a recurrence or a software patch.
Sitting about 10 feet from its lander, Spirit is two to three weeks away from resuming its explorations, Theisinger said.
They are really going to have some fun. I wish I were part of it............:-(
INDEED! But how much of it did you see or hear on Sunday AM TV? . . . . pathetic, I tell ya!
WE'RE NUMERO UNO IN SPACE AND THE GOVERNOR IS CLEANING UP!
CLEANNNNN SWEEEEEP!!!!
"I'm flabbergasted. I'm astonished. I'm blown away," said Steve Squyres, the Cornell University astronomer who serves as the mission's principal scientific investigator. "Opportunity has touched down in a bizarre alien landscape. This is like nothing I've ever seen before."
Wow! All this for just $800 million!
I hope they fix it. It's not like we'll get our money back if it craps out.
If a strong dust storm kicks up, it could be burried in dust and unable to move anywhere.
As far as "Spirit" is concerned, my theory is that a Static Electricity discharge has damaged the flash memory.
Martian EOD guys not wearing wrist straps?
Absolutely. So much to see, so little time.
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